SageGlass adds new design and performance option to its portfolio of award winning dynamic glass

SageGlass now available without center bus bar for 5 x 10 foot windows

Oct. 22, 2014

SAGE has enhanced its award-winning dynamic glass SageGlass®, a product of Saint-Gobain, with a new tinting option that extends the product’s architectural design possibilities. Announced today at the annual Greenbuild conference, SageGlass will now be available in large architectural sizes without a center bus bar. This option complements a long list of SageGlass product innovations that enable architects and building owners to combine solar control with an aesthetically pleasing design while enhancing building performance.

A bus bar – found on standard SageGlass – is a thin electrical conduit through the middle of the pane that helps the glass achieve the industry’s fastest tint switching speeds. SageGlass has traditionally employed a center bus bar for glass sizes greater than four feet to provide superior switching speed and tinting uniformity in all conditions. The new option with “no center bus bar” provides architects and building owners with yet another design alternative. The bus bar is not required, even for large glass sizes of 5 x 10 feet. While the use of a center bus bar will provide faster and more uniform tinting performance, the new, bus-less option adds another dimension of design flexibility to SageGlass’ industry leading portfolio of dynamic glass options. Furthermore, a large glass unit with no center bus bar may also be equipped with SageGlass LightZone™, just like a standard unit. This option enables one large pane of glass to be configured into two or three sub-zones for maximum control and daylighting.

“We continue to recommend SageGlass with a center bus bar for most large glass applications due to optimal product performance,” said Dr. Alan McLenaghan, CEO of SAGE Electrochromics. “But we are always looking for ways to provide architects with more design freedom. By offering this new option our customers have greater choice in how they want to use dynamic glass in their buildings.”

This latest product news is just one more innovation from SAGE. With its large intellectual property (IP) base of over 320 patents, SageGlass provides a vast array of features and benefits to meet customer needs. Among these are:

High quality glass with uniform tinting and color aesthetics

Fast switching speed from clear to tinted

Glare control with 1% visible light transmission

A range of shapes including trapezoid, parallelogram and triangular forms

Laminated IGUs for strength and durability

A range of exterior color options

LightZone to provide in-pane zoning within one large pane of glass to maximize daylighting

SageGlass Unplugged™ a wireless capability for retrofit or hard to reach spaces (available for iOS and Android operating systems)

Partnership with Lutron to provide an integrated solution with dimmable lighting

Large 5 x 10 architectural sizes – now available with no center bus bar if desired

“SageGlass product innovation enables us to ‘do it all’ for customers in an integrated solution,” said Derek Malmquist, vice president of marketing for SAGE. “All of our innovations – sizes, shapes, colors, improved glare control – reflect our effort to reduce trade-offs between design and functionality. We have the ability to configure a solution to meet the needs of almost any type of project. Whether a university, office building, healthcare facility or government installation, you can always get SageGlass in your preferred configuration.”

ShapesSageGlass provides design flexibility by offering dynamic glass in trapezoid, parallelogram and triangular forms, in addition to standard rectangular glass in sizes up to 5’ by 10’. SageGlass shape options are widely available and have been field-proven in several innovative projects such as the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. The large (6 by 9 foot) triangles are on display at the SageGlass booth (#1517) at Greenbuild this week in New Orleans. Other examples include the National Research Energy Laboratory in Boulder, CO, Cottage Grove City Hall in Cottage Grove, MN, and Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, VA.

Color and tint levelsSageGlass is also available in a variety of colors to enable architects and building owners to maintain design integrity while improving energy efficiency with dynamic glazing. SageGlass is fabricated in a laminated multi-pane process, allowing different color options to be combined creating an even larger spectrum of choices. Having a larger palette of available colors enables architects and building designers to more seamlessly integrate SageGlass with other glass in their projects. New standard colors include the below options (custom colors can also be developed as necessary):

SageGlass Blue

SageGlass Green

SageGlass Gray

Glare Control

SageGlass has also further enhanced its glare control capabilities. In its fully tinted state, the glazing is able to achieve 1% visible light transmission. Each incremental percentage point has a significant impact on glare control. Importantly, even when fully tinted, SageGlass always remains transparent (from the inside) so building occupants never lose their view and connection to the outdoors.

Visit SAGE at Booth #1517 at the Greenbuild show in New Orleans October 22-23. SageGlass will also be featured in the Louisiana Green Schools Challenge, showcasing its installation at the Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans.

About SageGlassSageGlass®, a product of Saint-Gobain, is advanced dynamic glass that can be electronically tinted or cleared to optimize daylight and improve the human experience in buildings. SageGlass manages the sunlight and heat that enter a building, significantly reducing energy consumption while improving people’s comfort and well-being. It can reduce a building’s cooling load by 20% and HVAC requirements up to 30%. It is a smarter, more elegant solution than conventional sun controls such as mechanical window shades, blinds and louvers. With SageGlass you can control sunlight and glare without shades or blinds while maintaining the view and connection to the outdoors. SageGlass is manufactured in Faribault, Minn., in the heart of “the Silicon Valley of the window industry,” and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saint-Gobain of Paris, the world’s largest building materials company.

About Saint-Gobain in North AmericaSaint-Gobain has its North American headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. As the world leader in sustainable habitat, Saint-Gobain is committed to inventing solutions to help professionals and communities around the world build and renovate comfortable, healthy, economical and energy-efficient buildings. The company has more than 250 locations in North America and approximately 15,000 employees. In the United States and Canada, Saint-Gobain reported sales of approximately $6.2 billion in 2014.

Recognized as a 2009 and 2010 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Saint-Gobain earned the 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award, the highest level of recognition for outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through energy efficiency. For more information about Saint-Gobain in North America, visit www.saint-gobain-northamerica.com and connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter.

About Saint-GobainIn 2015, Saint-Gobain is celebrating its 350th anniversary, 350 reasons to believe in the future. Backed by its experience and its capacity to continuously innovate, Saint-Gobain, the world leader in the habitat and construction market, designs, manufactures and distributes high-performance and building materials providing innovative solutions to the challenges of growth, energy efficiency and environmental protection. With 2014 sales of $54.6 billion, Saint-Gobain operates in 64 countries and has over 180,000 employees. For more information about Saint-Gobain, visit https://www.saint-gobain.com/en and the twitter account @saintgobain

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Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures and distributes materials and solutions which are key ingredients in the wellbeing of each of us and the future of all. They can be found everywhere in our living places and our daily life: in buildings, transportation, infrastructure and in many industrial applications. They provide comfort, performance and safety while addressing the challenges of sustainable construction, resource efficiency and climate change.